1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydrogen supply device, and in particular relates to a fuel cell utilizing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable energy is required in digital products such as laptop computers, walkmans, cameras, and the likes. Desired portable energy characteristics include low cost, long energy supply, small size, light weight, and operational under a variety of environmental conditions. One type of portable energy, a conventional fuel cell, is economical and provides long energy supply. However, conventional fuel cells are limited by the inability for hydrogen supply to comply with the characteristics of desired portable energy, thus difficulty occurs when attempting to apply them to portable electronic products. Chemical hydrogen storage material can serve as a hydrogen source due to high hydrogen storage density. Solid hydrogen materials are currently popular. When a solid hydrogen fuel (combination of catalyst and sodium boron hydride) is selected, water is required for reaction to form the hydrogen as shown in Formula I below. However, the hydrogen generating mechanism has two major problems. First, difficulty occurs when attempting to provide a stable hydrogen generation rate. Thus, methods include complicated devices that dramatically increase volume and cost of the hydrogen supply device.

Taiwan Patent No. 98108205, however, disclosed by the inventors of this invention, discloses a more simplified method for stabilizing hydrogen generation rates.
Secondly, the hydrogen supply device is required to be fastened in one direction. Specifically, if the hydrogen supply device is inverted, tilted, or shaken, the water in the hydrogen supply device may flow to the fuel cell, thereby containing the MEA film in the fuel cell, which degrades performance. As such, portability of the fuel cell is a problem. While, those skilled in the art may adopt a hydrophobic gas-liquid separation membrane to permeate hydrogen and block water. However, fuel cell costs are increased due to expensive membrane. Furthermore, the gas-liquid separation membrane cannot totally contain the liquid water. Due to the hydrogen pressure, a little bit of water may be extruded through the membrane to degrade fuel cell performance. Accordingly, a totally solid hydrogen supply device is called for in fuel cells.